This Tuesday, December 1st is #GivingTuesday. With holiday spending season just around the corner, it’s time to not just give, but give back! Tangerine is kicking off this season with their #GivingTuesday initiative. Giving Tuesday is the global day to giving back to your community and those in need. Charities, families, businesses, community centers, students and individuals around the world come together with one common purpose: to celebrate the spirit of giving.

You can help out right from your phone! All day, Tangerine will be making a donation of $5.00 towards their #BrightWayForward charities for every post to @TangerineBank using the hashtag #GivingTuesday.

Help Tangerine reach their goal of $10,000! Tell Tangerine how you’re giving back today with the hashtag #GivingTuesday and they will donate $5 to #BrightWayForward charities

On Tuesday, November 17th, the annual Hunger Counts report was released. HungerCount is the only comprehensive annual national report on hunger and food banks used in Canada.

In March 2015, 852,137 people received food from a food bank in Canada. More than one-third of those helped were children.

Food bank use in March was 1.3% higher compared to the same period in 2014 and 26% higher than in 2008, before the start of the global financial crisis. Half of the provinces experienced increases in food bank use in 2015. Hardest hit was Alberta, where unemployment increased by 10% between March 2014 and 2015 in the wake of the dropping price of oil. Three-quarters of food banks in this province reported an increase in use. Nationally, 54% of food banks reported an increase in the number of people requesting food assistance.

It has now been seven years since food bank use reached a low point of 675,735 individuals in March 2008. The need for food banks spiked drastically in 2009 and has hovered at record levels ever since.

Help share these statistics to raise awareness about hunger in Canada! Read more at https://www.foodbankscanada.ca/Hunger-in-Canada/HungerCount-2015.aspx

With one more day to go for Halloween, I decided to figure out how much I’ve spent this year on this spooky holiday. Turns out, it was a spooktacular amount! You never really realize that this small holiday would have you spend a couple hundred dollars, but thats exactly what happened when I started adding the amounts together I had spent on my kids costumes, give away candy, and the party we decided to throw this year.

I decided to go online and search up exactly how much people are spending on Halloween. Figures out, I’m not the only one! Check out the infographic below by Steam Feed that illustrates consumer spending for this year.

We dedicate ourselves to treating the emotional fallout from cancer. Using the sum total of our knowledge, experience, expertise and resources, we do what women trust and rely on us to do – to make them feel human again in the face of the ravages of cancer and its treatment. In doing so, we help restore their confidence, and the confidence of those around them, to continue fighting with conviction and living with dignity.

For more information on them, and the amazing work they do, make sure to check out their website: beautygivesback.ca

Tickets for the gala are just $10, with $5 going to Beauty Gives Back. Guests also receive $5 towards any purchase they like to make during the gala.

During the gala guests can enjoy skincare consultations, makeovers, free samples, as well as refreshments. It’s sure to be an amazing evening. To find out if your Shopper’s Drug Mart is participating, and to get your ticket, talk to a beauty expert at your local store.

To help get the word out there about the gala, there’ll be a Twitter Party on Tuesday, November 3 from 8-8:30pm EST, hosted by @BGBCanada. Look Good Feel Better and Sherry Abbott (Director of Beauty Gives Back) will also be attending the Twitter party. Plus, there’s five $100 Shoppers Drug Mart gift cards to be given away.

We hope to see you there, and don’t forget to use #SDMBeautyGala to join the conversation!

The month of November is fast approaching which means that everyone has a chance to participate in Canada’s 5th Financial Literary Month. Established by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), the aim of Financial Literacy Month (#FLM2015) is to engage Canadians in a conversation about better spending and educate them to make informed and responsible decisions with their money.

Many Canadians – especially Millennials (such as me) – don’t know how to have a good balance between spending and saving and evidently make irresponsible purchase decisions. This is why Financial Literacy Month (#FLM2015) is the perfect opportunity to take control of your finances and educate yourself in how to spend better.

Throughout the month, the FCAC will be collaborating with organizations from across Canada to help Canadians learn more about financial literacy. More importantly, through various resources provided by FCAC partners, Canadians will be able to get insight on better investing, budgeting, financial planning, and protection against fraud.

This year, FCAC has picked the theme “Count me in, Canada” which focuses on the involvement of Canadians from private, public, and corporate sectors to join in on the conversation about financial literacy and educate Canadians about its importance. You can make a difference by joining in on the conversation with the hashtags #FLM2015 and #CountMeInCA on your social media channels.

Want to find out how you’re doing financially? Check out these awesome tools by FCAC to help assess your current financial standing. Lastly, help spread the word and check out the official FCAC social media on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for more updates.

‘Weology’. It’s a word that not many of us are familiar with. I was too in that boat before I came across the book of the same name written by Tangerine CEO Peter Aceto.

So what is Weology? If anything, its a phrase that guides Tangerine as a company and is the reason why they’ve seen such unprecedented success in an industry that’s inherently rigid and inhuman.

To quote the Tangerine website: ‘Peter runs his business in an unorthodox and intuitively human way that has largely contributed to Tangerine’s unprecedented success.’

The truth is the world is shifting – towards a people-centric way of organizing companies. Tangerine is WAY ahead of this curve. Weology means that the culture and ways of thinking put people first – and it shows in both their employees, customers, way of doing business, and ultimately, their success as a company.

In Weology, Peter tells us why Tangerine, its people, its culture and the leadership strategies he adopts for operating in a radically different way are changing how the world sees business.

This book – and ideology – are two of the many reasons why I am a Tangerine customer, and will be for a long time to come. I encourage you to read the book, which you can pick up here.

FinCon is where money and media meets positivity! This conference is being held on Sept 17-20 in Charlotte, NC and I couldn’t help but share it with you, since it’s aimed mainly for bloggers!

FinCon is for those who are digital content creators in personal finance and also investing. Attendees can look forward to connecting with others in the community, learning to create, promote, and profit from compelling online content, and discovering new trends in personal finance and investing.

A particularly cool speaker (in my opinion) is Tess Vigeland, mostly because I LOVE her book called ‘Leap without a net’. You should definitely give it a go. It’s all about leaving your 9-5 without a backup plan and it’s truly inspiring! Learn more about her here!

If you’re in the area, you can register here or view the schedule here.

There are a lot of great events coming up that I’m really looking forward to going to! I love going to conferences for a couple of reasons. One being it’s a great way to learn some tips and tips from industry pros or regular joes. It’s also an awesome way to meet people that may not work in your industry, but still share a passion and interest in managing personal finances. Here are some great conferences that I look forward to:

FinCon – Sept 17-20 – Charlotte, NC

The Traders Expo – Oct 14-16, Las Vegas, NV

Canadian Personal Finance Conference – Oct 17-18 – Toronto, ON

The World Money Show – Oct 30-31 – Toronto, ON

The World Money Show – March 3-5 – Orlando

In short: There’s a lot to look forward to. Any that I’m missing here? Let me know in the comments section!

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been with the same bank since you were in diapers (in my case, literally. My parents set me up with an account when I was young!) Truth be told, we all have stories about getting our first paycheque, saving for our first house, or buying a car – and our bank has been a big part of that.

While I initially was reluctant to the idea of getting a new bank account, the allure of getting rid of those pesky (and unnecessary) fees was intriguing. It wasn’t until I was introduced to a new way of banking that I realized those fees for going over your transaction limits, sending money etc. are not a necessary evil. There is a solution. Enter: Tangerine.

Tangerine is banking that’s simple, easy to understand and truly has the customer in mind. I love that they don’t believe in banking fees. Did you know that the average Canadian spends $200 a year JUST in banking fees alone? That’s crazy if you ask me, and it’s something that a lot of us aren’t necessarily aware of or accounting for. Check out the fee chart for Tangerine here. That’s a lot of ‘FREE’! I especially like that Interac e-Transfers are just a dollar each ($0.50 less than my former bank!)

Signing up for an account was super easy, but I was initially afraid of the time it would take to transfer my bills and payroll direct deposits. The hesitation was then shattered when I found their awesome Switch Assistant tool. It’s a handy tool that allows you to transfer over your payroll direct deposits, bill payees and pre-authorized payments all in one place.

I went ahead and switched all my bills over to Tangerine within 3 minutes flat. I was shocked that I could do all of that in less time than it takes to brew a pot of coffee. The Switch Assistant tab within your account is where everything happens. Simply click on the action (see above) to get started. I clicked Import bill payees, and then easily imported my bill payee information from my current bank account by logging in.

What’s more, you can earn $100 just for switching your payroll direct deposits and making either 1 pre-authorized payment or 2 bill payments by October 31, 2015. It’s almost too good to be true (except it isnt!) Head over to tangerine.ca to get on your way to a better type of banking. Trust me, you won’t regret it!

Our post from earlier this week focused on apps that can help you save money during your holiday shopping this year. Many of them allow you to browse coupons, compare prices, and ensure you are getting the best deal possible all while on the go. I also wanted to introduce you to some of my favorite apps that can help earn you extra cash during this holiday season.

Jingit- Jingit is a website that offers several different ways to earn. You can earn cash directly from the website or partner websites by watching ads. Download the app and you can earn while you are out shopping. Use the app to plan your shopping trip and look for products that you may be purchasing. Reserve offers available for items you plan on purchasing. You can also earn cash by snapping a picture of your receipt and uploading it. Using the app to check-in while at your favorites stores and scan barcodes on participating items can also earn you cash. Once you earn points, the points are added to your JingIt Visa Debit Card to be redeemed anywhere Visa is accepted.

Shopkick- This shopping app is like the foursquare of shopping, offering reward points for checking in when you are at your favorite stores. Sometimes you can earn reward points for scanning items in stores. The app uses your GPS location to know what store you are shopping in and then offers coupons which can save you money while shopping too. Reward points can be redeemed for a wide variety of gift cards for your favorite stores.

Gigwalk-Gigwalk basically offers tasks that you can accept and get paid to complete. Many of these tasks are things you can do while you are out holiday shopping. Taking pictures of products, reviewing restaurants, or verifying location of a business are all types of task you might come across. Payment is made through Paypal.

Field Agent-This app turns you into a type of mystery shopper. Many of the assignments offered through the app are at your favorite stores where you may be during your holiday shopping. Many of the jobs require you to go to a specific store, take pictures of a specific display in the store, and answer some brief questions about the display. Search through the assignments before heading out and you may find some you can complete during your shopping trip. Payment is made through Paypal.

Checkpoints- Log into your Checkpoint App when you visit a store. The app will show you participating items in that specific store that can be scanned to earn reward points. Over 2 million store locations are in the app making it an easy way to earn some extra cash while out shopping. Reward points can be redeemed for a variety pf prizes or gift cards.

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About Me

Irené Waldman worked 11 years for Visa, before working at Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, part of the world’s leading alcohol beverage company and is now a marketing consultant working with high profile financial services companies, in addition to collaboration with marketing companies focused on loyalty.